ANAHEIM – Cam Fowler wanted to see the video. How it happened. Why it happened.

Fowler didn’t want his mother, Bridget, to see it. Told her not to. How his right leg buckled at the knee, turning in a direction it isn’t supposed to go. How he went down in immediate, intense pain and how he had to be helped off the ice with no weight put on the leg.

As he stood at his locker room at Honda Center after his first practice with the Ducks since that moment, Fowler doesn’t hesitate to say how lucky he is to consider returning to action four of five weeks later rather than four or five months.

“It was a scary thing,” Fowler said Saturday. “When you’re on the ice, you don’t know exactly what’s going on. You just know that something’s wrong. Once I got back in and the emotions kind of settled down a little bit, you’re able to take a step back and realize that things could have obviously been a lot worse.

“So I’m thankful for that and thankful for all the work that everyone around here has done for me to help me get back to a point to where I’m close to playing now.”

The initial view of his injury makes Fowler’s potential return next week seemingly inconceivable. In the first period of the Oct. 20 game against Montreal, Fowler had the puck at the half board in the offensive zone and tried to shield it away from Canadiens center Phillip Danault.

As he turned to his right to get away into open space, Danault’s stick got caught in his left skate guard. Unable to move his left leg in a natural motion as he spun away with his right, Fowler was in danger and the Honda Center crowd was soon hushed with concern.

It hurt. Not just the obvious physical pain but the inner agony. Another knee injury added to the ones he has had. And this one came after his career took a new promising turn with last season’s first All-Star game appearance.

“I was frustrated,” Fowler said. “Very frustrated. As athletes, we work so hard to prepare for the regular season and get your body ready. When something like that happens – especially something that you have no control over – it’s frustrating.

“I try to focus on the positives as much as I could. I could have done a lot more damage and things could have been worse. Tried to have a positive attitude. We all deal with injuries. It’s part of the game and I’m certainly no different than anybody else.”

The Ducks remain short-staffed up front but they’re close to being at full strength in their defense corps. Hampus Lindholm is expected to return today against Florida. And with Fowler coming back, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle will finally have the anticipated group he could work from.

“Coaches don’t ever feel 100 percent totally comfortable,” Carlyle said. “I think what it does is as the schedule ramps up and as we go deeper in the season, it gives you more of a solidified opportunity to play your group and we believe that this group can play to a higher level than what we’ve played.

“That in theory should help but you still have to do it.”

HALL OF FAME RECOGNITION

Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya will be honored for their Hockey Hall of Fame induction Sunday, with a pregame ceremony occurring at 4:45 p.m. Selanne has been a frequent visitor to Ducks home games while in retirement but Kariya has been to just one – Selanne’s final regular-season contest in 2014.

It will be an opportunity for fans to recognize Kariya’s nine seasons with the Ducks and the franchise’s first big star until Selanne arrived in 1996. Andrew Cogliano called Kariya the face of the original Ducks and hopes to get one of his sticks signed by the two.

“You really remember the old logo and Kariya and those days,” Cogliano said. “Those are two players that put this organization in terms of their first star guys. When you thought about the Ducks, you thought about Kariya. You still do.

“And Teemu’s obviously self-explanatory in how much he means to this club.”

A fan of the Mighty Ducks while growing up in Finland, Sami Vatanen was happy to see Kariya and Selanne go into the Hall together. Vatanen feels connected with both, having long been a fan of Selanne but also playing with Kariya’s brother, Steve, during his first pro season back home.

“I got to know him pretty well,” Vatanen said.

Before the Ducks had Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry as their leading pair for a decade, it was Selanne and Kariya that carried them in the late 1990s. Perry fully recognizes that.

“They’re obviously the dynamic duo of their time, Perry said. “They put this team on the map and where it is today. Teemu always calls them brothers and it’s true. They come up and they know exactly how each other played and they complemented each other pretty well.”

ICE CHIPS

Ryan Miller (lower body) was on the ice taking shots from Ondrej Kase (upper body) in the morning but neither has been able to resume practicing. Carlyle is hopeful that Miller will be able to rejoin the team next week. The Ducks will play five games in seven nights and will have to consider starting Reto Betta.

Forward Kalle Kossila was returned to San Diego (AHL) and expected to play with the Gulls in their game against Tucson. Kossila has a goal and an assist in seven games with the Ducks.

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